Alexis Avila, 18, was been arrested and charged with attempted murder and child abuse for allegedly tossing her newborn child into a dumpster
The grandmother of the baby dumped in a trash can by his teen mom has defended her daughter, telling DailyMail.com: 'Everybody makes mistakes.'
Hobbs High School student Alexis Avila, 18, was arrested and charged with attempted murder after abandoning her newborn baby boy in a dumpster behind a shopping mall in Hobbs, New Mexico, on Friday.
The newborn, who has been named Saul by his 16-year-old father, is currently recovering at a hospital in Lubbock, Texas, and is being cared for by the New Mexico Children, Youth and Families Department.
Now Avila's mother Martha, 47, has broken her silence to defend her daughter and told DailyMail.com that the birth came as 'a shock' outside her $104,000 home in Hobbs.
Speaking exclusively to DailyMail.com, she said: 'People can talk and give their opinion. Everybody makes mistakes. People can preach all they want, they can judge all they want but we only care about the judgment of one.'
She added: 'Yeah it has been a shock.'
Martha told DailyMail.com that she wasn't sure if the family would be handed custody of baby Saul – although that is likely to be contested by the family of the baby's father.
Avila's mother Martha, 47, has broken her silence to defend her daughter and told DailyMail.com that the birth came as 'a shock'
The shocking footage from New Mexico shows Avila tossing her baby in to a dumpster in a trash bag
After giving birth, Avila said she 'panicked.' She wrapped her son in a towel, placed him in a white plastic bag containing some trash, and a larger black trash bag, and drove around, before throwing the child in the dumpster at the Broadmoor Shopping Center at around 2pm. The baby was found six hours later.
Speaking to DailyMail.com, the 16-year-old's uncle said the baby is likely to be taken in by his 50-year-old grandfather, an entrepreneur who runs an oilfield servicing business eight miles out of town.
He said: '[His dad] isn't the type to give up on a family member. He won't let that baby be without a home. It's been a big shock for us all. We only found out about the baby last night.'
According to texts shared with DailyMail.com by a friend of the 16-year-old, Avila had told him she was pregnant but claimed she miscarried after they split last summer.
But friends of Avila's said she had been open about her pregnancy at school and stopped coming to class shortly before the Christmas break in mid-December.
Both Avila and her mother Martha told police they did not know she was pregnant, with
